1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of devices for data entry and manipulation in computers, and relates more particularly to an apparatus and method for entering data into a computer and manipulating virtual objects defined by the computer based on the gestures and positions of the hand, or other parts of the body, of an operator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Input devices for computers include such devices as keyboards, digitizers, joysticks, mice, trackballs, and light pens. One function of these input devices is to position, in two dimensions, a cursor on the display screen of a computer. Once the cursor is positioned at a desired location, the computer typically will be instructed to perform an operation. The processes of positioning the cursor and selecting the operation are discrete operations, since separate motions are required to perform each operation. With a mouse, for example, cursor positioning is accomplished by moving the mouse along a surface, while selection of the operation is accomplished by pushing keys located either on the mouse or on a separate keyboard. Mastering the operation of such input devices is often difficult because the hand movements required to operate the devices do not correspond to the visual feedback presented by the display screen of the computer. Furthermore, the operator's hand(s) must be removed from the keyboard, positioned on the mouse, then returned to the keyboard.
Glove input devices also have been used to supply data to computers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,537, filed Sept. 15, 1981, by G. Grimes and entitled "Digital Data Entry Glove Interface," describes one such glove input device. The Grimes patent discloses a glove with sensors for detecting the flexing of finger joints, sensors for detecting contact between various portions of the hand, and sensors for detecting the orientation of the hand. The Grimes device is used to identify static hand positions representing the characters of the alphabet. Furthermore, the glove is designed to differentiate from one another a fixed number of static shapes representing the letters of the alphabet.